This invention relates to the handling of palletized loads and more particularly to the unloading of pallets prior to transfer of loads to a desired location.
Vertically stacked loads, such as mail bags, are commonly transported on pallets to a location adjacent an automative van by means of a self-powered, industrial fork lift truck. Prior to loading of such bags into the van, they are unloaded from the pallet. Such pallet unloading heretofore involved time consuming manual transfer operations and tied up use of the industrial truck supporting the loaded pallet during such transfer operations.
In an effort to overcome the foregoing type of problem, it has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,762 to Vossenberg to utilize the fork lift of the industrial truck to separate the load from the pallet by directly lifting the load off the pallet after the loaded pallet is deposited on the ground. Such load handling proposal has not been generally adopted, apparently because of the likelihood of damage to the load by the fork tines that are to be wedgingly inserted between the load and the floor of the pallet with only a relatively thin spacer placed between the load and the pallet. Positioning of the load, free of the pallet, on the fork tines according to the foregoing prior art method requires exceptionally skillful operation of the fork lift truck. Further, positioning of the load on the fork tines is both difficult and unreliable for safe transport where irregular loads, such as mail bags, are involved.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide an improved means and method of separating vertically stacked, irregular loads from pallets on which the loads are transported by fork lift trucks, and transferring the depalletized loads directly onto the fork tines of a conventional fork lift for subsequent transport by short distances to a loading location.
A further object in accordance with the foregoing object is to transfer loads from pallets directly to the lift fork of a conventional industrial truck without manual assistance, without damage to the loads and without use of special pallets and load spacers.